Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

Lannan Refuses Assignement, Becomes Free Agent

The Phillies outrighted John Lannan from their 40-man roster tonight, but he refused his assignment and elected to become a free agent.

It was not a surprise.

Lannan signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract with the Phillies last offseason, but suffered a left knee injury that led to season-ending surgery. He said last month he hopes to be 100 percent healthy by the beginning of Spring Training, but the Phillies had no plans to tender him a contract as a salary arbitration-eligible player.

Lannan understood that.

“I pretty much have an idea of what’s going to go down,” he said. “I’m not an idiot. I’m ready for the challenge, whatever comes up. I just want to make sure (the knee) is right. That’s the only thing I can control. The other stuff I can’t control.”

The Phillies still could resign Lannan with a shot to win a job in the spring. They have holes in their rotation, and a lack of quality depth crippled them this season.

Asked if he would be up for competing for a job in camp, Lannan said, “I think it’d be good. I’ve never come into camp thinking I’ve locked up a spot. I’ve always enjoyed the competition. It pushes you a little harder. I’m looking forward to proving to myself, and whoever I sign with or if I stay here, that I can help a team win.”

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12 Comments

With Roy Halladay’s 20 million off the payroll (and Lannan’s 2.5 million as well) they have a chance to sign a significant FA starter instead of bottom feeding on guys like Lannan. Good riddance. I just hope they don’t tender Kendrick because his arbitration salary will eat up about a third of that money.

I read on HighCheese a very good break down of what pitchers who have Kyle’s stats are earning. I was shocked that even a pitcher with a losing record can make $7-8 million. Kyle has pitched a lot of innings as a regular starter. Sure he sucks a lot, but at the end of the day all five starters must eat up as many innings as possible. Kyle has stayed away from serious injuries too, which in itself is a miracle for any player wearing the Phils uniform. If Rube spends $8 million on another pitcher, who will he get? EVERY TEAM seems to need more starters and the best ones will take a lot of convincing to sign with the Phils because they should know Rube will do nothing to improve the team’s chances of a postseason berth when the trade dead lines approach….

He wasn’t any good in Washington and he wasn’t any good in Philly. Good by and good luck. Hope he lands on a NL East team so we can beat him as we always did. Halladay will be back at least to compete in STing. Kendrick also. Why the organization loves KK is beyond me. Hope to see some better SP this spring!

“A lack of quality depth crippled them this season…” so they should re-sign John Lannan? The offense sucked , too. Should they re-sign Roger Bernadina and Casper Wells? These are all names that don’t belong anywhere near the Phillies if they’re going to contend again some day.

KK is a rare kind of pitcher-hes a reasonable 5th starter and a reasonable long man as well. The ability to swing back and forth even during the season makes him valuable. The question is how valuable. 8-10 million seems a bit high to me. 5-7 sounds like a good deal.
as for having 22 million to spend on starting pitcher, I’d rather them spend it on a proper LF. Put Brown in RF where he belongs. We already have 2 aces on the team. The Cuban is supposed to be a good #3.. we need offence, not a 22 million dollar #4-we tried to “4 aces” route once, didn’t do much good

players like kendrick and lannan and a few others are the reason the team lost 89 games last year. it is time to move on and get rid of the DEAD WOOD. for every player that was an asset on this team last season we had 2 that were a liability. out that 40 man roster at least 20 should be let go.

I think Lannan would have had a decent season if he hadn’t gotten the type of injury he had. He was never going to be effective pitching with it. Before the injury, we saw how ell he could pitch against teams that were NOT the Phils. Hopefully, the Braves will sign him and then the Phils will beat up on him again at the Braves’ expense :o)

i find it to be completely insane to think some die hards think that if the phillies get a power hitting left fielder the problems would be over. this team won a pathetic 73 games this past season. if they had babe ruth playing left field they will not win more than 75 games next season with this current roster. they need a complete over haul. jimmy rollins is finished being any kind of an offensive weapon. ryan howard is all but done, and should never see a left handed pitcher the rest of his career. i have my doubts about cody ashe becoming an everyday effective 3rd baseman. same goes for darin ruf, he will be a spot player at best. halladay could not win 20 games pitching at clearwater, as great as a pitcher he once was.right now they have 2 outstanding starters (lee-hamels).martin proved at best that he is nothing more than a long reliever at best.

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